A Perth real estate agent has gone viral for his unique marketing of a rundown house with a fully functional grow room.
O’Neil Real Estate agent Ash Swarts wore a gas mask in an Instagram video as he did a walk-through of the rundown home being sold in one of Perth’s outer suburbs.
The home at 34 Dawson Street, Armadale, looks fine from the outside, but inside there’s a fully functional grow room, a bubble wrap ceiling and something broken in just about every room.
O’Neil Real Estate agent Ash Swarts said his goal was to bring more attention to the property.
“We’re not selling fancy real estate in our neck of the woods and more interest means more buyers and higher sales prices,” Mr Swarts said.
“It’s all about exposure and we’ve taken that comedic slant on things and it’s paying dividends and people love it.”
This isn’t the first time he’s used clever marketing, with a recent marketing campaign also talking about another property’s “drug paraphernalia” also getting a lot of attention.
He also took the comedic approach to the listing, by outlining “the good bits” about the property along with the “hard bits”.
The listing states that the new owner will need to “Bring a bag full of light bulbs to light up your work, then again, maybe the lights don’t work anyway because this property will be sold ‘as is’.”
“There will be no warranty on anything here. Floor coverings are non-existent, paint is half-existent.
“There’s no pool that we could see, but a pool cover is provided – it’s just currently filling a hole in the passage ceiling. A testament to the resourcefulness needed to survive a home like this!”
Mr Swarts said that despite the issues with the property, the $489,000 property is attracting a lot of interest given that it is a dual residence on an 970sq m block of land.
He said buyers could “live in one, rent out the other, or rent both for a fantastic income stream”.
So far Mr Swarts’ strategy has been incredibly effective, with the property attracting six offers in the first few days of the launch.
“Realistically, Armadale is in the top five suburbs in the country in the past 12 months in terms of growth, so we don’t need to do this to sell the property,” he said.
“But we are getting a lot more eyes on the property now.”
He said that the huge media attention that he’s been getting for his viral video has also been helping build his brand in the area.
“Everyone’s been contacting me and that ultimately helps our brand,” he said.
Mr Swarts said the move towards doing more video content has been something that has also been resonating with buyers.
“We’re moving towards doing more and more videos, and do walkthrough videos of all our properties,” he said.
“A lot of our buyers aren’t local or are FIFO and if they’re away it can be hard for them to get to see the property.
“If you’ve got a video we can send it off to them within five minutes of them enquiring.
“The buyer feedback’s also been fantastic.”
Mr Swarts said while the comedic videos are fine, it’s important to have the seller on board.
“You must have the owner’s permission,” he said.
“We don’t condone bad behaviour or want to fantasise about it.
“The reason the owner had a grow room was legitimate and people can see that we’re just leaning on that from a marketing perspective.”
